LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky wants televisions turned off inside Halas Hall to insulate the struggling team from outside criticism.
"Trying to get some of these TVs in the building turned off because you've got too many people talking on TV about us and what they think about us -- what we should do, what we are and what we're not," Trubisky said before Wednesday's practice. "But they don't really know who we are, or what we're capable of as people, or what we're going through, or what we're thinking. It's just the outside viewers looking in."
"So tunnel vision, ear muffs and just come to work every day and try to get better and get back to what we know we're capable of doing."
Trubisky, 25, is having a forgettable third NFL season. The second overall pick of the 2017 NFL draft, Trubisky might not even pass for 2,500 yards or throw for double-digit touchdowns. By comparison, 16 other quarterbacks have already thrown for over 2,000 yards. After seven starts, Trubisky has 1,217 passing yards with five touchdowns and three interceptions and is 31st in the league in QBR (34.8).
Offensively, the Bears rank near the bottom in most statistical categories. Chicago had nine total net yards in last Sunday's loss to the Eagles. The Bears failed to record a first down in that game until under a minute left until halftime.
After getting off to a 3-1 start, the Bears have lost four straight and sit in last place in the NFC North. The Bears finished last in their division four straight years from 2014 to 2017 before they surprised the league last season with a 12-4 record and a trip to the playoffs in head coach Matt Nagy's first year.
"It is totally different [this year in terms of expectations]," Nagy said on Wednesday. "Because last year there aren't those outside expectations. No one knew exactly what we were getting into [last season]. And then we made a little run. We ended up winning the division. And we put ourselves in a great opportunity to where now the expectations are meteoric.
"Now they're just extremely high for a team that's coming from where we were coming from. And that's great. We're not asking for anything different. We want that. If you don't crave that pressure and you don't crave that, then you shouldn't be on this team."
Chicago (3-5) hosts the Detroit Lions (3-4-1) on Sunday.